day 147: thriftday {coffee anyone?}

I almost died at the thrift store yesterday.
No, really.
I saw this coffee set and stopped in my tracks.
I sent Dave a picture of it, and I believe the text that I sent with it went a little like this:
“OH MY GOODNESS I NEED THIS COFFEE SET I WILL NOT EAT FOR A MONTH IF I CAN GET IT!!!!!!!!!”
I stood staring at the coffee set, waiting for Dave to respond. I did not dare move, perchance someone else saw the set and snatched it. Five minutes passed.
When Dave did not reply to my urgent message, I sent another one.
“PLEASE. I am standing here in front of it dying. And I don’t want to leave it here”
To which Dave had a little panic attack, because he had not seen my first message or the picture. Then he realized I was just talking about a coffee set.
But really…it’s not just any coffee set.
This is a Melitta Coffee set, made in Germany in the 1960′s. A set similar to mine that was complete recently sold on Ebay for $700. That is obviously the high end of what they would sell for. Later sets that are incomplete are selling the pot and sugar/creamer for about $100. From what I’ve read, they are highly collectable. And so far from what I’ve seen online–hard to find. Melitta was a coffee company started in the early 1900′s, and they patented the first drip brew coffee filter. In the mid-century they made ceramic coffee sets (like mine, and many other designs). Today Melitta just does coffee filters and beans.
What I found at the thrift store is the coffee pot, creamer, sugar dish, 4 saucers and 3 plates. I believe the full set of this design that I found has 4 mugs as well, an additional breakfast plate. I saw a set similar to mine and it also had egg cups.
I will be contacting the company that I got my replacement china dishes from last year to see if they can give me any information about the set.
I NEED to complete the set. It has now become my life’s goal.
That’s not shallow, is it?

; )

Oh…this is a thrifty post, because I got the set for $30. Um….about $500 savings. Heh.

Anyone want to come down for coffee??
Please?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 12:03 pmand is filed under 365, coffee, Thrift Stores, Thriftday, Vintage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Each piece is marked on the bottom with the Melitta stamp that has their logo, and “Made in Germany” and then each piece also has a different number stamped under the logo. It sure is an amazing find. So beautiful.

[...] Do you realize that crazy interesting/exciting things I’ve found at thrift stores? My Melitta Coffee set, for one. Or my incredible mid-century modern solid walnut bedroom set (for $290) Most of the time [...]